Voting Is Secret In The US— No One Can Tell A Woman Who To Vote For, Not A Husband, Father, Brother

Primitive Conservative Men Are Afraid Of Women's Voices

Vote Common Good, released two awesome ads this week, one urging women to vote for whomever they want to and forget what their husband wants and the other urging men to vote for whomever they want to and forget what their MAGA buddies expect of them. Needless to say, it was the Julia Roberts-narrated ad to women that caused conservative heads to explode.

Fox News reactionary Jesse Watters threatened his wife, Emma DiGiovine: “If I found out Emma was going to the voting booth and pulling the lever for Harris, that’s the same thing as having an affair… That violates the sanctity of our marriage. What else is she keeping from me? What is she lying about? Why would she do that and vote Harris? Why would she say she was voting… If I caught her and she said ‘I lied to you for the last four years’… It’s over, Emma! That would be D-Day!”

I not 100% sure why, but conservative men can’t stand hearing women’s voices. It’s frightening. Before we look at MAGA, let’s look at one of their spiritual progenitors, the Taliban, which just “banned women from hearing other women’s voices in its latest attempt to impose a hardline version of Islamic law on Afghanistan. In a rambling voice message on Monday, the country’s minister for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice announced the bizarre new restriction on women’s behavior… Khalid Hanafi said: ‘Even when an adult female prays and another female passes by, she must not pray loudly enough for them to hear.’”

I bring it up because so many Trump supporters have the same attitude. When they talk to each other about why they want Kamala to lose, her voice has a role in their animus. Look at this conversation between two well-known unintelligent neo-fascist baboons

The disdain conservative men, especially though not solely religious conservatives, show toward women’s voices—whether figuratively, as in a woman’s opinion, or literally, as in the sound of her speech— is rooted in a combination of deep-seated ideological, social and  psychological anomalies. Their attitudes reflect not only personal preferences but broader anxieties tied to gender roles and power dynamics. When public figures like Kamala face criticism over their voices, it’s not always about their actual tone or pitch but rather an encoded way to delegitimize their authority or leadership potential. Many male conservative ideologies, are built upon traditional, hierarchical gender roles, where men are typically seen as leaders and women as subordinates or caregivers. Hearing women in roles of authority or independence challenges these ingrained structures— whether in Afghanistan or Orange County. In such frameworks, conservative men feel that women’s voices symbolize a shift away from “traditional” values, which can feel like a threat to their conception of societal, patriarchal stability.

For many progressive men and women, a woman’s voice represents equality and social progress. Conservatives perceive this as a challenge to historical norms they view as valuable or divinely inspired. Research shows that male-dominated power structures are often reinforced by controlling women’s bodies, behaviors, and voices, as exemplified in cases like Afghanistan under the Taliban. This isn’t exclusive to extreme cases; it is also present in less overtly restrictive societies where female politicians, especially vocal ones, are disparaged in ways men seldom are. Gender studies indicate that some men experience anxiety or discomfort when women assert authority, sometimes interpreting a woman’s voice— especially in leadership or assertive contexts— as a challenge. The discomfort isn’t necessarily pathological but reflects deeper cultural conditioning that values male dominance and female submission. Research on gender bias, for instance, has shown that both men and women often judge authoritative female voices as “shrill” or “nagging” simply because these voices deviate from the softer, supportive tone expected from women.

Religious conservatism— of whatever faith tradition— often links a woman’s voice to modesty and submission, where outspoken women are viewed as morally transgressive. This aligns with the Biblical idea of women as “keepers at home” and warnings against women teaching or holding authority over men, as seen in some interpretations of Christian scripture. The aversion to hearing women in leadership is a  deeply ingrained cultural reaction in primitive communities, one that considers women’s public voices as disruptive to social harmony. Progressive men, who are more likely to embrace egalitarian values, often see women’s voices as equal, valued and needed.

Back to the Vote Common Good ad, Trump’s failed turn-out-the-vote guru, Charlie Kirk, said he thinks the idea (of women going behind their husbands’ backs and voting for Kamala is “nauseating.” The Hill reported ”In criticizing the ad, [Kirk] discussed a husband working hard to afford his wife’s lifestyle, and then said a wife who lied to her husband about whom she backed would amount to undermining her husband. ‘I think it’s so gross. I think it’s so nauseating where this wife is wearing the American hat, she’s coming in with her sweet husband who probably works his tail off to make sure that she can go you know and have a nice life and provide to the family, and then she lies to him saying, Oh, yeah, I’m gonna vote for Trump, and then she votes for Kamala Harris as her little secret in the voting booth,’ Kirk fumed to radio host Megyn Kelly.’ Kamala Harris and her team believe that there will be millions of women that undermine their husbands and do so in a way that it’s not detectable in the polling,’ he added. In response to his statements, former Liz Cheney called Kirk a ‘twit.’”

Doug Pagitt, co-founder of Vote Common Good: “The backlash from certain men who are horrified to think their wives might disagree with them actually proves our point. We know the MAGA movement is putting increased pressure on people, but we also know the strong will of Americans when they stand in the voting booth. Our work is all about helping people do the thing in the voting booth that they know in their heart they want to do. We’ve traveled the country and met people all over who have a higher calling for their vote than just what their political party or friends demand of them. We know they’ll think about who they love the most when they vote and not just what their political party or religious community tells them to do. Kamala Harris and her team believe that there will be millions of women that undermine their husbands and do so in a way that it’s not detectable in the polling.”

This one is narrated by George Clooney: